


facetious

by anthropologicalhands



Category: Man of Steel (2013), Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Banter, Character Study, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-21
Updated: 2014-02-21
Packaged: 2018-01-13 06:25:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1215958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anthropologicalhands/pseuds/anthropologicalhands
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Does the guy in the glasses protect the guy in the suit, or is the guy in the suit taking care of the guy in the glasses? Lois considers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	facetious

Clark Kent and Superman are two very different beasts. They have the same build, the same muscle tone, the same blazing blue eyes, but no matter which guise he is wearing, Lois can’t help but be impressed by the shift between them.

Clark’s general demeanor is so milquetoast that she will occasionally forget he is there. He is unassuming and gentle, and displays the finest manners on this side of the twenty-first century. Which somehow does not stop him from nabbing some of the riskiest scoops. He’s been across her desk for two months now, and it is generally accepted that for all of Clark Kent’s bumbling; he’s really just biding his time.

Superman treats everyone as his equal, even though everyone knows that he is far, far above them. You notice his face long before you see the costume. In his presence, one feels both at ease and in utter, terrible awe.

Superman. The name is ridiculous. It should be a joke. No one treats it as such.

Lois sees him best when they are at home. All of their good qualities combined, with a sense of humor she is always oddly honored to bear witness to.

He admitted to her once, somewhere between their fourth and fifth date, that she makes him feel sure, that he knows his ground around her. In Metropolis, he watches himself, is mild because he doesn’t dare be forceful lest he turns destructive. With her, she knows, his restraint is not quite so all-encompassing. It is always present, of course, but after a lifetime of training oneself to be ever careful, Lois doubts that he really could be anything less. 

It is a sobering thought, what he could be.

Thank goodness he is kind.

“Who protects who?” She asks him, one day.

Clark looks up from his computer screen, glasses slightly askew. “Beg pardon?”

Lois sits on her chair backwards, her chin on her arms, rotating back and forth. They are in her apartment today, more specifically, her bedroom. She’s at her desk; Clark is sitting on her bed, back against the headboard, without a tie and wearing red socks. 

“Does the guy in the glasses protect the guy in the suit, or is the guy in the suit taking care of the guy in the glasses?”

Clark smiles and keeps typing away at his laptop. “I would have thought that the great Lois Lane would know the answer to that question.”

“She has her own ideas,” says Lois. “And she has started talking in the third person, which she hates. Seriously, do you make a distinction between Clark Kent and Superman? Or do you think it doesn’t matter?”

“Neither would exist without the other,” says Clark without looking up. “But they are both me, if that’s what you’re asking. Like a diamond. Different facets, same body.”

“I’m well aware,” says Lois archly, and revels in how he blushes.

Still, it is good to know that he is a peace with himself.

“I’m writing that down,” she says. “You know, for the day the office figures out that your uncanny resemblance is a bit too uncanny to be anything but the real deal.”

Clark just laughs at her.


End file.
